Design framework for crosstalk-suppressed integral imaging head-mounted light field displays using programmable directional illumination

Conventional integral imaging-based light field head-mounted displays (InI-LF-HMDs) are constrained by limited control over the angular emission of elemental images, which leads to crosstalk artifacts, low optical efficiency, and narrow reconstructable depth range. These limitations originate from a mismatch between the angular emission of elemental images and the numerical aperture of the corresponding microlenses. In this paper, we establish a system-level design framework for crosstalk-suppressed InI-LF-HMDs using programmable directional illumination that controls angular emission profile, effective numerical aperture, and ray footprint formation. By enforcing source-aperture conjugation, the emission cone of each elemental image can be tailored to match the microlens numerical aperture, enabling intrinsic suppression of crosstalk while simultaneously improving light efficiency. Moreover, programmable directional backlighting enables the ability to tune the effective fill factor of the elemental views and consequently the reconstructable depth range of the light-field 3D scene. Finally, we experimentally demonstrate and validate these features through a bench prototype.